The Meta

Alvin Tan of Maven 1 and Jayson Biadog pose for their Amazing Race entry with my laptop, at the Turf Room.

I only went to the Tres Palmas launch because Jayson ‘Mr. Raffle’ Biadog wanted to go. He confirmed past 5 pm; the invite was for 6 pm.

Whether or not he was going, I decided to drop by on my way to San Juan from Bonifacio Global City, as it was conveniently held at Manila Polo Club. It didn’t hurt that RRR had asked me to check it out. She told me that if there were any events in the area, to let her know. She had already made plans yesterday by the time I told her of the invite from Maita Siquijor of Maven Secrets 1. Maita and her husband Jerry were in Ateneo around the same time that I was there, but we didn’t know each other then.

Anyway, I forwarded Maita‘s email to RRR, who asked me yesterday if this was an Ayala development.

I told R that this development is worth looking into, as Maita said that it is about 15 minutes away from STI in BGC, has 62% open space–versus Serendra’s 64%, owned by Jose Mari Chan’s sister and Joey Albert’s relative. There are only eight floors per building. Maita pointed out that the density was low.

My friend also wants to know if I’ve had my flu shot. After two bouts of flu last year, my pulmonologist, Dr. Gwen Agra of Cardinal Santos Medical Center, prescribed Vaxigrip to me. Health Cube does not have Vaxigrip anymore, only Begrivac, so I emailed her for advice. This is her reply:

‘not much experience w begrivac yet altho i am also forced to use it because vaxigrip is no longer available. so far, with my patients, no side effects noted. the manufacturer is also a big multinational company. i think it would still be beneficial for you to have the shot.’

I have not asked Health Cube if they’re willing to inject me with Vaxigrip from Mercury Drug.

Like Cats, I had been wanting to watch Magsimula Ka since its initial run in the early 80s. I hope that unlike Cats, Magsimula Ka will be as entertaining as Rizal, starringSonny Parsons and The Company, which I saw at Rizal Theater! It doesn’t hurt that Robert Sena, one of my favorite singers, is directing. Whether singing and directing are related is another thing altogether. Ask Rowell and Randy Santiago.

No, Robert Sena and Isay Alvarez-Sena are not part of the cast. Isay is a producer.

Incidentally, I want to post a photo of the poster from Gibbs Cadiz’s Global Post blog post, but my other wordpress blog was shut down due to violation of the terms of use, so I am trying to be a bit more careful.

As per Maven Secrets teacher Anton Diaz‘s advice, I’ve asked WordPress to export the blog for me, and to ask WordPress what my specific violation was, and to say that I am not an SEO or affiliate blogger, whatever any of that means. WordPress has not replied to my email, but I expect WordPress to reply to me within 24 hours like when I first contacted them about my suspended blog.

Incidentally, I only found out about my disappeared blog when Jayson Biadog told me about it.

The Bird Show is in the past, but I thought that I would keep a record of it here. It sounds more serious than the birdwatching I did with the Wild Bird Club in UP. I had invited my cousin to go birdwatching with me one time. I was thinking of a few hours. He was thinking of a few days!

MR's mom called me away from the screen so the birds would go down to eat the rice.

Last October 27, my friend’s maid threw some rice in their garden. My friend’s mom told me to watch the birds swoop down for the rice. I watched from the screen as the birds chattered excitedly in the trees.

No wonder the Wild Bird Club uses binoculars to look at birds.

MR’s mom said that their carpenters had tried to feed the birds their leftover rice, but they did not want to go near.

Maybe the birds trust the Rs, because one time they saw a baby bird in their garden. They were afraid that a cat would eat the bird, so they nursed the baby maya before putting it back in their garden.

I'm birdarazzi!

We had a baby bird hidden in the plant box in our garage, which my niece–maybe she was five then–had adopted as a pet for a few hours, until I got wind of it and insisted that she put it back, for its survival, despite the Pinoy-type drama that followed.

For Ahia Nono, who owns a bird shop in the US. Photo taken at Greenhills Shopping Center.

I own a plain Penshoppe grey tee and underwear, and my balikbayan friends bought maybe a few dozen things there last time we went there this year, so I was expecting more of the same at the fashion show, which would not make an interesting fashion show.

Thanks to Penshoppe for the P 1,000 gift card!

I remember going to an Esprit fashion show circa ’97 where the clothes were all white, so they looked alike in the bright light.

I can also imagine myself wearing the second from the left outfit.

So imagine my surprise when I saw day to night clothes, as the press kit pointed out. Like!

*

I'd like to see the rest of the second from the left skirt or pants.

Jayson, I hope that you get a polo for hotel events and Penshoppe-type parties! We were so underdressed at the Penshoppe party! The guests wore black.

Can't imagine any of my guy friends wearing anything like this.

*

I wonder if Penshoppe has belts, tights and light open cardigans or wraps.

Is he the Brand Director?

I also wonder if Penshoppe has a branch at SM Centerpoint, where I have P 100 coupons expiring tomorrow!

EFY wants to know if UVVRP or the Unified Vehicle Volume Reduction Program is applicable in Tagaytay. He plans to leave Tagaytay at 5 pm so that he’ll hit Metro Manila by 7 pm. He plans to use the new car because of the distance, for safety.

Then 5 pm sounds early to me. CYdA told me that coding should apply starting Muntinlupa.

Rico confirmed that if Alabang is the exit, that the entry into Number Coding zone is Makati.

The MMDA trunkline numbers are 882-4151 to 77. I couldn’t get through 51 to 54. I got through 55, and spoke with a Rico, who confirmed that the September 9 update on the Metro Manila Development Authority site was the latest.

I had to say ‘UVRP‘ [sic] and ‘coding‘ a few times to Apple Ilano before she understood what I was saying. She seemed to find my question amusing. I guess I would, too, if I worked in Tagaytay.

C said, why implement a number coding scheme in Tagaytay when there’s not much traffic? But isn’t it ma-trafik na ren?

It’s just that I tell [my friend], it’s one thing to speak Pinoy English knowing that it’s Pinoy English, it’s another thing to think that Americans can understand you because you think that Pinoy English and American English are the same.

Actually, linguists, like psychologists, shouldn’t be judgmental. No such thing as ‘wrong grammar‘ or pronunciation. More of, does she sound like a native speaker or not?

I thought that this was almost as good as Fish & Co.

MoMo! Cafe

Pati si [my friend’s mom who looked up the prononunciation of ‘precedent‘ the adjective], ‘president‘ na ren. May her tribe increase. [J], it’s chicken-egg, e. Language is fluid. Speakers make a language. There was a move to change the spelling of ‘friend‘ to ‘frend’ or ‘fren,’ but it didn’t catch on.

Yours truly,

On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 11:28 PM, [J] wrote:

I saw your note.. but it was only after I sent my comment.. I don’t think I’ll get used to pronounce it as ‘president’ unless everyone starts using it. ;)

I emailed Apple Ilano of Tagaytay Highlands the other day. Also tried to call her but she was on the other line. The guy I spoke with said that she was the only person who could help me, and that she would call me back the next morning, yesterday. Ms. Gemma told me that she would follow up with Ms. Ilano.

My friend told me yesterday that I should say goodbye to Tagaytay Highlands.

I asked her to recommend the nearest hotel that was easy to navigate, from Tagaytay Highlands. It had to be a hotel where someone she knows has stayed in.

I emailed Discovery using an email address that I saw in a blog that I closed after a virus alert popped up.

After consulting an online map, she suggested Discovery Suites, about 12 kms. from Highlands, or Taal Vista, about 2 kms. further. She said that all three were on the same side of the rotonda.

I prefer Belle View, because of the 180-degree view of Taal Lake-Volcano-Mts. Makiling and Arayat, and the scenic elevator. Don’t know how ASUY would feel about the scenic elevator. She avoids elevators.

The Belle View page mentions bridges, which the Woodlands page doesn’t. To me that sounds that Belle View is farther from the ‘crime scene,’ ‘malayo sa putukan.’

Since ASUY doesn't like elevators, and Woodlands seem to be made of houses, maybe Woodlands is more suitable for ASUY.

I emailed Gemma to ask her for Ms. Apple Ilano‘s email address, as I might be out during the day and early evening.

Incidentally, I’m surprised with the informality of email coming from high-end places like Tagaytay Highlands. Gemma used ”coz,’ for one.

Parents have said that texting encourages ‘poor’ (Linguists do not judge language, just distinguish between native speaker and not.) English. I always thought that different age and other groups have different languages, that it’s ok for teens, for example, to communicate in textspeak as long as they ‘talk’ in a different way with other people. But it seems that someone who works in Tagaytay Highlands, for example, can’t distinguish between texting with friends and emailing a client.